Quotes of the day

posted at 10:11 pm on April 30, 2014 by Erika Johnsen

The U.S. economy barely grew in the first quarter as exports tumbled and businesses accumulated stocks at the slowest pace in nearly a year, but activity already appears to be bouncing back.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 0.1 percent annual rate, the slowest since the fourth quarter of 2012, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

That was a sharp pullback from the fourth quarter’s 2.6 percent pace and was worse than economists’ expectations for a slowdown to a 1.2 percent rate. The slowdown partly reflected an unusually cold and disruptive winter, marked by declines in sectors ranging from business spending to home building.

***

Today’s GDP estimate is subject to a number of notable influences, including historically severe winter weather, which temporarily lowered growth in the first quarter. The report also shows the positive impact of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act which, together with continued slowing in health costs, helped strengthen the economy in the first quarter. …

2. The first quarter of 2014 was marked by unusually severe winter weather, including record cold temperatures and snowstorms, which explains part of the difference in GDP growth relative to previous quarters. The left chart shows the quarterly deviation in heating degree days from its average for the same quarter over the previous five years. By this measure, the first quarter of 2014 was the third most unusually cold quarter over the last sixty years, behind only the first quarter of 1978 and the fourth quarter of 1976. In addition, there were four storms in the first quarter that rated on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale (NESIS). The right chart shows that no quarter going back to 1956 had more than three such storms.

***

As the U.S. economy teetered on the brink of contraction in the first quarter, one thing stood out. Healthcare spending increased at its fastest pace in more than three decades.

“GDP growth would have … been negative were it not for healthcare spending,” said Harm Bandholz, chief economist at UniCredit Research in New York.

Healthcare spending increased at a 9.9 percent annual rate, the quickest since the third quarter of 1980, and it contributed 1.1 percentage points to GDP growth.

***

The truth is, nobody knows how much of this slowdown represents a blip that will reverse in coming months is — and how much of it reflects fundamental weakness in the economy. The weather does a good job of explaining why businesses held back on investment during the beginning of the year, but it doesn’t explain stubborn weakness in housing or why companies aren’t exporting more. The economic recovery – now almost five years old – is replete with false starts and dashed optimism.

The spring and summer should be revealing – and are enormously important for the debate in Washington and the mid-term election campaign. Economic growth is an important factor in many models predicting the outcome of mid-term elections. If it continues to perform poorly, endangered Democrats could have even more reason to worry. And there could be compounding factors. It’s been a bit of a mystery about why Obama’s approval numbers – another factor in the mid-term races – have fared poorly after his administration was able to turn the Affordable Care Act enrollment period into something of a success. Perhaps slow growth – hey, bad weather makes people depressed, too – had something to do with it.

Sharp increases in home prices in much of the USA, along with higher mortgage rates, have discouraged many house-hunters. Home inventories are at historically low levels. First-time home buyers, who traditionally drive home sales, remain saddled with student debt and face still-stringent lending standards.

After bouncing back smartly in 2012 and most of 2013 following the 2006-09 real estate crash, the housing market began slowing last fall. Although an unusually cold and snowy winter hindered activity early this year, home sales and starts were disappointing again in March, even in the West and South.

***

***

With the Republican-led filibuster of a Senate proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 on Wednesday, Democrats moved swiftly to frame the vote as an example of the gulf that exists between the two parties on matters of economic fairness and upward mobility.

The question is not just one of money, they said, but of morality. And in doing so the Democrats returned to the themes that were successful for their party and President Obama in 2012 when they convinced swing voters that Democrats were mindful of the best interests of all Americans — not just those who are powerful and wealthy.

Speaking from the White House shortly after the measure was defeated 54 to 42, with 60 votes needed to advance, Mr. Obama admonished Republicans and called on voters to punish them at the polls in November. “If there’s any good news here, it’s that Republicans in Congress don’t get the last word on this issue, or any issue,” Mr. Obama said. “You do, the American people, the voters.”

Every other sentence out of the mouths of Barack Obama and other progressive Democrats seems to invoke the “middle class,” and when they’re not promising to help the middle class, they’re obsessing about how to humble the rich. In the past two weeks, the Left’s preoccupation with confiscating thy neighbor’s goods has been highlighted by two things: The reception of Thomas Piketty’s new book, Capital in the Twenty-first Century, and the response to rumors that Senator Elizabeth (“Occupy Wall Street”) Warren might run for president. Both have received the full secular saint treatment, reflecting the progressives’ almost mob-like eagerness to lay hands on more of the property of the rich. Not for the poor, mind you, but for the “middle class” (translation: themselves).

To the extent we have an economic inequality problem, it’s not because a small percenatge of our population—comprised of professional entertainers and athletes, corporate CEOs, internet pioneers, and others—are wealthier than the average American. Young graduates bearing large student loans while facing a weak job market, families facing unemployment or low wages, and single parents struggling to raise children do not find their situations any more difficult because some in our nation are wealthy.

Yet, liberals seem to think otherwise, and here we find a stark illustration of the converse mindsets of liberals and conservatives. Liberals seem to want to reduce economic inequality by bringing the people at the top down, while conservatives want to reduce inequality by bringing the people at the bottom up. The left wants to focus on class warfare while the right wants to focus on economic growth, the proverbial rising tide that raises all boats.

If we want to reduce economic inequality, the only logical solution is to raise the living standards of the middle class and those at the lower end of the economic spectrum.

Blowback

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least we never forget the compliant Press here..
I have been saying for years they are
Criminally Liable in this case…
I cant wait to join the class action law suit…
every sane person knew all along this was lies..
and yet daily the Press told us..
nothing to see here..phony scandal… move along..
more lies from liars..

least we never forget the compliant Press here..
I have been saying for years they are
Criminally Liable in this case…
I cant wait to join the class action law suit…
every sane person knew all along this was lies..
and yet daily the Press told us..
nothing to see here..phony scandal… move along..
more lies from liars..

Referencing the legendary story of Jenny Brooks whose sons were killed by armed agents collecting taxes for the Confederate government, Vanderboegh pulled out a skull. Mrs. Bundy’s [sic] place in history was secured by her revenge killings of two of the agents, turning one of their skulls into a soap dish.

Vanderboegh declared he would present his skull to Reid as the “2014 Award for Incitement to Civil War.”

“I will send it as a reminder with the message, ‘Don’t poke the wolverine with a sharp stick, Harry, unless you want your balls ripped off.’”

Today, just over one month short of its 28th anniversary, the historic, marathon litigation, N.O.W. v. Scheidler, has culminated in yet another unanimous, decisive pro-life victory for the defendants, Joseph Scheidler, Andrew Scholberg, Timothy Murphy, and the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League, as a unanimous federal appellate panel roundly rejected any and all objections raised by the abortion plaintiffs, N.O.W., and a pair of abortion providers representing a nationwide class of all abortion providers in the United States to the federal trial judge’s award of $63,391.45 in reimbursable, out-of-pocket costs to said pro-life defendants.

Fox News commentator Jeanine Pirro is asserting the federal Bureau of Land Management’s surge of interest in land used by Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy to graze his cattle has more to do with dollars and power projects than any interest in protecting a tortoise that also lives on the land.

In a special commentary on her “Justice with Judge Jeanine” program, she said the man she now calls “Dirty Harry” Reid, the majority leader in the U.S. Senate and a Nevada Democrat, may have had an ulterior motive for the attempted land grab from Bundy: energy projects.

She said if a solar energy project is expected to impact thousands of acres of desert land in the state, federal rules would require a mitigation zone, where animals that may be protected or endangered could be moved from the project site.

As WND reported, the BLM has mentioned Bundy’s cattle and the grazing land he uses in connected with solar power projects.

Pirro said “Dirty Harry” had been watching federal land being transferred and used for shopping malls and other projects for years until the “armed military type agents came in like stormtroopers.”

I have just been reminded of the time….I’ll check back in the a.m. for any other suggestions. Thanks!!!

Good Night All.

Bmore on May 1, 2014 at 12:55 AM

Hi Mr. Bmore, I don’t post here very often, but reading tonight about your problem and being a major cat lover :-), I thought I’d give you my two paws, er.. cents.

Bob cats have litters from April-June, so she does probably have young cubs nearby. When the cubs get a bit older (in a few months if you can do that) then make it uncomfortable for them to be in your area – a few lights outside, noise (like a radio playing outside) and spray made of lemon,eucalyptus oil ( 20 drops) in water (cats don’t like those smells), or spray with a hose or one of those automatic water sprayers that squirt when deer walked in front of it.

The increase in the affordable care act was due only to government threats and coercion. That makes only authoritarian rule over freedom the success-not the ACA.

Don L on May 1, 2014 at 4:30 AM

The elephant in the room these types ignore is just how much of a multiplier effect that capital would have had if it were freely invested or spent in the market, instead of being confiscated by government.

It’s like saying that a kid falling off a boat into water is safe because he found something to hold onto, while ignoring that what the kid is holding onto in this instance is a shark fin.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and all kinds of cats. I was reading what GtoM said and I’m wondering if it would be possible to force or harass a local news outlet to tell the truth. I don’t mean illegally harass but when they misrepresent the truth go after them with a letter writing campaign threaten to sue, etc. If it becomes too much trouble to go on doing what they are doing they will either shut down or change their ways.

What are you talking about KJ? Jay Carney made it clear that the memo that had a section called Benghazi with the stated political goal of pinning the attack on a YouTube video and not the administration’s policies was not about Benghazi! Who are you going to believe this fine upstanding administration or your lying eyes?

A two minute clip of the Innocence of Muslims video was shown on Egyptian television on September 9.

On September 11, an Egyptian mob (actual or astroturf, no one knows because astroturf mobs were the norm in Egypt under the Muslim Brotherhood) demonstrated outside, and on, the US Embassy in Cairo.

From a timeline produced by Factcheck.org, we know that there were no demonstrations in Benghazi on September 11, the day of the attack.

2:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (8:30 p.m. Benghazi time): U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens steps outside the consulate to say goodbye to a Turkish diplomat. There are no protesters at this time. (“Everything is calm at 8:30,” a State Department official would later say at an Oct. 9 background briefing for reporters. “There’s nothing unusual. There has been nothing unusual during the day at all outside.”)

The attack began at around 4pm, EDT, by 8:30pm our ambassador was dead, at 10pm Hillary Clinton issued this statement:

I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in Benghazi today. As we work to secure our personnel and facilities, we have confirmed that one of our State Department officers was killed. We are heartbroken by this terrible loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and those who have suffered in this attack.

This evening, I called Libyan President Magariaf to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya. President Magariaf expressed his condemnation and condolences and pledged his government’s full cooperation.

Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet [my emphasis]. The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind.

In light of the events of today, the United States government is working with partner countries around the world to protect our personnel, our missions, and American citizens worldwide.

On September 14, Ben Rhodes drafted the talking points for Susan Rice and others….”

One quibble KJ. Ted Cruz is calling for a Joint Select Committee of the House and Senate. That’s a little different than bi-partisan hearings which, in theory we’ve had all along. And I’d add that the committee should have the power to subpeona and compel these critters to testify under oath.

The Dems are blaming the Repubs for the failure of the minimum wage raise in the Senate. I suppose they rightly assume most people won’t know the Dems control the senate. Some Dems must have voted against.

Thanks. I’ll give that a try. Has to smell better than diesel or kerosene. Plus I don’t want to separate the female from the cubs. If she has them. I’ll keep you posted. ; )

Bmore on May 1, 2014 at 8:32 AM

Would she move them the way domestic cats do? She might do that anyway after awhile. Strays move their kittens. Don’t know if it’s a survival thing or they need a cleaner place. If you make it uncomfortable she might carry them elsewhere. I know they don’t like Vicks which has menthol and camphor.

When PeskyPuddyTat mentioned her solution, vicks vapor rub was the first thing to come to mind. Lolz! I mean, who likes that stuff. ; ) I’m gonna try to make her lose interest in my place with the whole smell thing first. Even before I contact DNR. My big concern is that if she is trapped and relocated the cubs will perish. I don’t want that. Thanks! ; )

Thanks Brat. See above comment about relocating her. ; ) My work place, not the one in the forest with the cat. The other place, had two baby Peregrine falcon chicks this season. They are and have been flying for about a month now. Absolutely terrorizing the areas birds, squirrels, rabbits and such. I have taken to firing blanks at them when they are around. Hopeful they will move on. Two days ago we found this. I called my friend at the Audubon Society chapter. She said that there will be one pissed off New Yorker. Apparently it was a racing pigeon, valuable as well. It happens. ; )

Where he is, he should be fine, weather wise at least. Hopefully he is on holiday or busy wrangling someone, something or another. I don’t think HL knows nor thought to leave any a note. You know, the way I do. ; )

Yikes, that poor pigeon! Reminds me of the time one of my feral cats left 4 bunny feet on my patio. Just the feet, no sign of anything else!

Maybe you can get a wildlife rescuer or rehabilitator to help locate/relocate the cubs. In my experiences with feral cats and other small wildlife situations, I have found those types of individuals or groups provide better advice/assistance than DNR or other govt. agencies.
By rescuing/removing the cubs, momma and daddy may move on to have their next litter elsewhere.

By rescuing/removing the cubs, momma and daddy may move on to have their next litter elsewhere.

Brat on May 1, 2014 at 1:17 PM

I thought about it. I think for now I’ll just try the smelly stuff to keep her away and see how well that works. Ringo won’t like being inside, oh well. Better inside the house than the Bobby. ; ) Besides my dumb luck if I have her moved someone will shoot her, (them), I’ll keep you posted. ; )